At Times, Love Can Hurt
by Neko Briefs
Summary: Rated R just to be safe. Vash is finally caught by people after his bounty and is preparing to be killed. When it seems like all hope is lost, a miracle occurs... **CH. 2 UP**
1. Default Chapter

**At Times, Love Can Hurt**   
written by Neko-B   
the_ugly_barnacle@hotmail.com

BAM! POW! Gunshots could be heard from the city of December all the way to the faithful city of July, where people learned just how cruel and unkind the Humanoid Typhoon could be... on that day when the tall man clad in red unleashed his disgustingly immense power on the citizens and slaughtered the whole city.   
But that was over a hundred years ago. The damage had been done, but the sixty billion double-dollar bounty was still resting on Vash the Stampede's head. Although, at this specific moment in time, it looked as though Vash was finally going to be brought to justice. In the city of December, some reckless young -- and very drunk -- townspeople had gotten hold of him and were planning to execute him in the center of the town, and afterwards, take his head to the sheriff to claim the bounty money. Normally, the Humanoid Typhoon would have just scared the people off with his custom-made guns and not hurt anybody in the process... but these people had caught him at a most inopprotune time, for Vash didn't have his guns. They had been taken from him when he was jumped and had been put God-only-knows where. And although Vash could've easily fought his way out, he had finally reached a moment in his life where he felt as though he just couldn't live anymore. The Plant no longer had the desire to live in a world where he would never be safe: always on the run, looking over his shoulder, waiting for **that day**...   
Well, that day had finally come. Vash the Stampede was going to die.   
At high noon, the people who jumped him -- which included a small group of very large and muscular men -- had stood Vash at the center of the town, standing him on a platform made especially for this occasion. His hands were cuffed behind his back and he was bound to the pole that waved the city's flag high in the air. His head hung low and his eyes were full of misery and despair. Below him, on the dirt floor, a large crowd of people had gathered, impatiently awaiting the execution of Vash the Stampede.   
"This is going to be a glorious day," the mayor of December cried out with joy. "With the bounty money, the town will prosper once more!"   
When Vash heard these words, he let out a small, choked sob and the tears cascaded down his face. He truly didn't have anything left to live for. He had no friends left, and the only family he knew was Knives, his twin brother, and Vash didn't want to be reminded of him at all.   
The only person he thought to have loved him was nowhere in sight... He would've given anything in the world to see her before he died.   
"Oh, Meryl," he sobbed. "I wish you were here... don't let it end like this..." 

"What's this? What the hell's going on?" the short, dark-haired woman demanded to know as she pushed her way through the crowd. "What's all the commotion?"   
"I wish I knew, ma'am," her assistant replied. She was much taller than anybody else in the crowd and looked around over the heads of the gathering people to see what was taking place. "It looks like... some sort of ceremony."   
Meryl looked confused. "Ceremony? For what?"   
At that moment, a young woman with curly blonde hair turned around to answer them. "Vash the Stampede has been caught," she answered the two women. "And he's going to be executed in a couple of minutes!" Despite the news, this woman looked absolutely elated at this news.   
Meryl's face went completely pale as the news sank in, and covered her mouth with her hands. "Oh... my... God..." was all she could say.   
"I know! Isn't it great?" The blonde smiled and turned back around to her place.   
Meryl suddenly burst out into hysterical tears and clung to Milly hopelessly. "Milly, this is all my fault!" she cried. "If we had only caught up to him before we ran away, this wouldn't be happening!"   
"Ma'am, there isn't anything we can do now," Milly reminded her, hugging her tightly. "It's only a matter of time now..." Meryl looked up at her and could see tears forming in her eyes as well.   
"I have to do something, Milly," Meryl announced. She stood herself up straight and began pushing her way through the crowd once more, hell-bent on reaching the front.   
"Ma'am! What are you going to do? -- Oops, excuse me! Pardon me!" Milly chased after her boss, pushing people aside and bumping into them left and right. Before she could catch up to Meryl, it was too late. Meryl had reached the front of the crowd and was jumping up and down, waving her hands hysterically.   
"Vash! Vash, look at me, damn you!" she screamed out as she sobbed. 

Somewhere, outside of the deep corners of his mind, something told Vash to open his eyes. Something told him to look up...   
And he did. Below him, standing at the very front, was Meryl Strife. She was jumping, screaming, and crying, trying to get his attention.   
"Meryl...?" he said to her, almost too shocked to believe what he was seeing. She had come for him! She had come to watch him die, to give him one last slimmer of hope before he was killed.   
"Vash, you have to try and escape! Don't do this to me! You're Vash the Stampede! You can't die!" Meryl fell to her knees and rested her head in her hands, crying harder than she had ever cried in her life, because the pain was too much for her to bear. When she saw that Vash was making no effort to escape -- he was only standing there, looking at her with a tear-stained face and a smile -- she decided to take matters into her own hands.   
She went out on a limb. Knocking people down as she moved, she climbed up onto the wooden platform and stood face-to-face in front of Vash. With a sad smile on her face, Meryl reached out and stroked Vash's cheek.   
"Vash, maybe it's just because you're going to die... but you've never looked more beautiful," she whispered.   
"Meryl... why did you come?" he wanted to know. "Why'd you come all the way out here to see me die?"   
"Shh." She pressed a finger to Vash's lips to silence him. "You're not going to die. Not as long as I'm here." With this, she planted a small, soft kiss on his lips.   
"Hey, what's she doing up there?" the mayor of December screamed out in anger. "Get down from there, little lady!"   
Meryl broke the kiss and turned to face the mayor, her hands on her hips. "I'm not moving!" she said loudly and angrily. "I told this man that I would lay down my own life to protect his... and if I have to, that's what I'm going to do!"   
From this moment on, Meryl couldn't remember if the mayor was still screaming at her; the only thing she could hear was her own heart racing and Vash's light breathing. She turned and walked behind Vash, where his hands were bound, and proceeded to untie the rope that held them in place.   
"I've had about as much of this as I'm going to take," the mayor said. He turned to the sheriff, who was standing next to him, and told him angrily, "Give me your gun!"   
Wordlessly, he handed his gun over to the mayor. Once he had it in his possession, he opened the chamber to see if it was loaded -- it was, with one bullet. That was all the ammunition he was going to need.   
"I'm giving you one more chance, lady," he said to Meryl, "step off of the platform, or suffer the consequences!"   
Meryl ignored him. Once his ropes were untied, Vash turned to Meryl and embraced her in a warm, soft hug. Meryl fell into his arms, still crying... she inhaled his scent, a wonderful mixture of gun powder and doughnuts, and was so happy to be alive, to live this moment.   
"You had your warning!" The mayor held his gun out, keeping both of his eyes open as he aimed -- right for Meryl's back. With enough luck, it would puncture her heart. He pulled the trigger, and the gun was fired.   
The bullet raced through the air and went straight into Meryl's back, which caused her to open her mouth wide with shock and arch her back. Immediately she started bleeding, and the blood soaked the white shirt she was wearing, and ran all over Vash's hands.   
"NO!" Vash screamed, looking down and sobbing as he watched all of the expressions on Meryl's face. First shock, then surprise, then utter and absolute pain. She went limp in Vash's arms and he brought her down to the floor, still holding her, looking down at her with eyes full of sadness and anger.   
"You see?" he told her dying body angrily. "You see, Meryl? I told you! I told you that everybody I've ever cared about has died! Everybody I've ever loved has been taken from me, and I can't go on anymore, with this pain in my heart!" He clutched Meryl close to him and cried, like a lost little boy.   
With the strength she had left in her body, Meryl managed to smile up at him, blood dripping down her lip. "I love you, Vash the Stampede," she whispered to him. "Remember me not as I was... but as I tried to be."   
"No, Meryl," he whimpered, clutching her tightly and shaking his head in disbelief. "Don't die on me -- whatever you do, oh please, Meryl, **DON'T DIE**!"   
As Vash spoke these words, Meryl's eyes rolled back into her head, her breathing stopped, and she went limp in his arms.   
He let out a scream -- a cry that shook the skies -- and sobbed ever more into her shoulder, hoping that maybe his tears would bring her back...   
  
"Okay, this has gone far enough!" The mayor screamed. "Fire at will! Fire at will!"   
The executioner was carrying a huge shotgun, and had it already loaded, ready to go when he got the signal. He approached Vash from the back, pointed the barrel at the back of his head, and said to him, "You have any last words, you cold-hearted murderer?"   
Vash looked up at his killer, blinking his green eyes for a moment. He then looked down at his dead love and brushes some strands of hair away from her face. "Don't worry, Meryl," he whispered to her dead body. "I'll be with you soon enough." With these words, he leaned downward and pressed his lips furiously against Meryl's... and his tears still stained her shirt. 

There was a loud BANG! 

The next -- and last -- thing that Vash saw was only darkness. 

(owari) 


	2. And Then All Was Dark

**At Times, Love Can Hurt**   
**Chapter Two: And then All Was Dark**   
written by Neko-B   
neko_briefs@hotmail.com 

**   
**Author's Note:** I want to thank all of you guys for the positive feedback on the first chapter, it really boosted my self-esteem! I didn't originally intend to write a second chapter, but I realize that I did leave the end as a cliffhanger of some sorts. Usually I leave my writing as it is, but so many questions went unanswered at the end of the first chapter, so I figured I'd answer those questions. Enjoy!   
** _There was a loud BANG!_   
_ The next -- and last -- thing that Vash saw was only darkness.___

But soon that darkness faded and he was floating in... well, nothing. He looked around and realized that he had entered an empty void of some sorts when he died. Nothing surrounded him -- no color, no scenery, nothing. There had been times when Vash had sat up late at night just wondering exactly what "nothing" would look like, and he came up with some pretty interesting theories and mental images, but no thought could come close to what he was seeing now.   
He looked into nothing, and saw nothing.   
That's when Vash realized that he wasn't alone. Staring off into the blank void next to him was Meryl, who still had a blood-covered shirt and a tear-stained face. She stood next to him, saying nothing, and a curious look was plastered on her delicate features. Vash looked at her and wondered out loud.   
"Meryl... is this the afterlife? Are we dead?"   
She turned her gaze to look up at him, and managed a sad smile. "I think so." Meryl took Vash's hand and squeezed it lightly. "But you know what?"   
"No... what?"   
"I'm not afraid, Vash," she whispered. "I have no reason to be afraid anymore. And it's all because I'm here with you."   
Vash looked down at their joined hands, and a question formed in his mind. "Meryl... why is it that you love me?" he asked her. "You knew that I was going to outlive you, that I was going to appear as a young man while you slowly aged... didn't that bother you at all?"   
She shook her head. "No, it didn't bother me," she replied. "It's because you made me happier than I ever thought I could be." Another tear slid down her face as she spoke, and Vash carefully wiped it away with his thumb.   
All he could do was smile. "I love you, Derringer Meryl," he told her.   
Her response? "I love you, Vash the Stampede."   
They kissed, holding one another tightly, enjoying the warmth that each of them thought they'd never find. 

Milly Thompson was in absolute shock. The tears wouldn't stop coming, and no matter how much she tried to will them away, the pain was too much for her to keep bottled up inside her. She looked up at the platform where she just witnessed two innocent people being murdered -- those two people were her lifeblood. Meryl gave up her life to save Vash's, and although she didn't do as well as she had hoped... she had succeeded.   
And despite all of the sadness, Milly somehow managed to smile. They were together now, in a world where they wouldn't have to worry about Vash being stalked for the bounty money, where Meryl could finally relax and enjoy life as it came.   
After a moment of deep thought, Milly looked down at her feet. Most of the crowd had left after the two had died, so she was left alone, save a couple of stragglers. She didn't have anybody now -- Vash and Meryl were dead, Wolfwood was dead... she had cried many tears for Wolfwood, but the sadness that she experienced that day still lingered in her heart.   
Milly dropped to her knees and buried her face in her hands, sobbing uncontrollably.   
She cried for Wolfwood, the priest who in the end, turned out to be nothing that resembled Godliness.   
She cried for Meryl, who gave up her life to save her love, and who never really knew that one shouldn't take life for granted. Maybe she knew now, wherever she was.   
And most of all, Milly cried for Vash the Stampede. Everybody that he had ever cared about had died, and he was the one who had to witness it all. He somehow managed to live with so many burdens on his shoulders, and yet somehow, he also managed to wake up every morning with a goofy grin on his face and a shining attitude. Although Milly didn't know Vash as well as she would have liked, she knew he was happier, wherever he was now.   
After a moment, Milly wiped her eyes and looked up at the sky. The sun was blazingly hot that day and it streamed down on the world in deadly rays. The heat was almost unbearable.   
But she could take it. Standing up and dusting off her knees, Milly turned around and began to walk slowly back to her apartment, which was going to be empty when she got back.   
She'd survive. As she thought of how to break the news to the staff at the Bernardelli Insurance Society, she remembered a conversation that she had had with Meryl when Wolfwood died. 

"Shh, sweety, don't cry," Meryl said. She scooped up her friend and partner in a soft hug. "Don't cry for him."   
Despite the comfort, Milly still cried. "Why'd he have to die?" she sobbed. "He was special; he understood me. And he was taken from me!"   
"Milly, listen to me." Meryl held Milly out at arms-distance and looked up at her with a sad smile. "Don't cry, okay? Try not to, anyway. You're one of the strongest people I know. Life has thrown you many hurdles and somehow you leap over them like nothing. Don't think of this as a loss -- thing of it as an escape."   
Milly sniffed, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. "An escape?"   
Meryl nodded. "An escape from any pain that you would feel. Wolfwood wouldn't want you to cry for him, would he?"   
"No... I guess not."   
"That's my girl," Meryl said with a smile. "Now, perk up, we have lots of work to get done today."   
"Yes, ma'am!" 

Milly smiled as she thought of this. As she walked down the street, that sentence ran through her mind.   
_"You're one of the strongest people I know."_   
Thinking of this, Milly Thompson held her head high and walked slowly back to her apartment. She had pain in her heart, but a smile on her face. 

She's such a trooper, don't you think? 

(owari)   



End file.
